Berrios, Swanson among top prospect performers Thursday

Jose Berrios was lights out in his third start of the season as he allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings to pace Triple-A Rochester in a shutout of Pawtucket, 5-0.

The Twins' No. 1 prospect was dominant from the outset of the game and no-hit the PawSox through five innings before surrendering back-to-back singles to open the sixth. He issued one walk and struck out seven, throwing 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

Jose Berrios was lights out in his third start of the season as he allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings to pace Triple-A Rochester in a shutout of Pawtucket, 5-0.

The Twins' No. 1 prospect was dominant from the outset of the game and no-hit the PawSox through five innings before surrendering back-to-back singles to open the sixth. He issued one walk and struck out seven, throwing 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

"The first two innings, I felt a little too excited, I think," Berrios told MiLB.com. "After the third, though, I just threw my pitches. I was working with all three of my pitches down in the zone, and they weren't able to do much with that."

Berrios, No. 17 on the Top 100, has been excellent in his first three turns for the Red Wings, posting a 1.06 ERA and 0.94 WHIP over 17 innings, during which he's held opposing hitters to just eight hits and a .143 average. On top of that, the 21-year-old right-hander has already accrued 20 strikeouts after he paced the Minors with 175 in 2015.

Berrios entered the season on the cusp of the Major Leagues and he's done nothing to suggest he can't contribute in the near future. While he needs to refine his command a bit more and prove he can pitch deep into games more consistently, Berrios should still be one of the first top pitching prospects to debut in 2016.

The rest of the best performances from top prospects Thursday

• No. 6 overall prospect Dansby Swanson's (Braves' No. 1) first home run of the season was a three-run, inside-the-parker in the top of the seventh that gave Class A Advanced Carolina a temporary lead in an eventual loss to Myrtle Beach. After finishing 2-for-4 at the plate, the 2015 No. 1 overall Draft pick is hitting .344 with 21 hits, nine doubles and nine RBIs through 15 games.

"I honestly thought he was going to come catch it," Swanson told MiLB.com. "Then he dove and it went over his head. As I was rounding first, I saw that the left fielder [Stephen Gaylor] was running after it, and I just got, I guess, greedy. I was like, 'I've got to get an inside-the-parker here.'"

• No. 28 overall prospect Jorge Mateo (Yankees' No. 1) paced Class A Advanced Tampa's offense in a win against Dunedin, hitting a two-run home run, his first of the season, and scoring twice in a 3-for-5 day. Coming off a strong spring in the Yankees' big league camp, the speedy shortstop is batting .327/.410/.500 with 17 hits, 13 runs scored and seven stolen bases (in 11 attempts) through 13 games for Tampa.

• No. 90 overall prospect Hunter Renfroe (Padres' No. 3) blasted his first home run of the season to pace Triple-A El Paso in a win against Tacoma. The 24-year-old slugger, who has hit at least 20 home runs in each of the last two seasons, started slowly but has been heating up of late, with a .417 average over his last six games for the Chihuahuas.

• Athletics No. 6 prospect Matt Chapman hit his fourth home run and went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored, while Ryon Healy (No. 17) hit a three-run home and tripled in five at-bats as Double-A Midland rolled past San Antonio, 9-2. Right-hander Daniel Mengden (No. 14) picked up his first win of the season for the RockHounds with six innings of two-run ball, giving him an even 1.00 ERA through 18 innings (three starts).

• Blue Jays No. 23 prospect Angel Perdomo pitched Class A Lansing to a win against Lake County, allowing one run on one hit in five innings while matching his career high with nine strikeouts. The 6-foot-6 lefty has been impressive this year, with a 0.79 WHIP, .132 opponents' average and 17/5 K/BB ratio in 12 2/3 innings for the Lugnuts.

• Nationals No. 14 prospect Drew Ward powered Class A Advanced Potomac to a 4-3 win over Wilmington in game one of a double header, going 3-for-3 with a home run, his third of the season, and a pair of doubles. The 21-year-old third baseman is off to a strong start in his return to the Carolina League, batting .339/.442/.571 through 15 games.

• Orioles Nos. 5 and 22 prospects Trey Mancini and Mike Yastrzemski combined to go 5-for-8 with three home runs and five RBIs as Double-A Bowie edged Harrisburg, 6-4. Mancini, the 2015 Eastern League MVP, hit his sixth home run of the season -- a go-ahead, two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning -- and 3-for-4 at the plate, while Yastrzemski entered the home run column with long balls in his first two at-bats, both against Nationals' No. 5 prospect Reynaldo Lopez.

"I felt great," Yastrzemski told MiLB.com. "We had a beautiful night and being around the ballpark when the weather is starting to turn and everyone is feeling great, it feels right being out there."

• Reds No. 12 prospect Rookie Davis, acquired from the Yankees in the offseason Aroldis Chapman trade, was a tough-luck loser for Double-A Pensacola despite allowing one run in seven innings against Biloxi. The 22-year-old right-hander scattered four hits and struck out five, with 56 of his 84 pitches going for strikes. Davis owns a 1.00 ERA and 0.89 WHIP through 18 innings (three starts).

• Red Sox No. 16 prospect Josh Ockimey hit his fourth home run as part of a 3-for-4 performance, but it wasn't enough to keep Class A Greenville from falling to Columbia, 13-9. The 2014 fifth-rounder has hits in six of his last seven games for the Drive, with a .400 average, three home runs and eight runs scored in that span.

• Making his first start of the season, Royals No. 18 prospect Josh Staumont allowed three hits and walked one in 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, only to be charged with the loss as Class A Advanced Wilmington fell to Potomac, 1-0. The hard-throwing righty, a second-round Draft pick out of Azusa Pacific in 2015, struck out a career-high nine hitters in the outing, giving him 23 punchouts in 13 innings to open his first full season.

• Yankees No. 4 prospect James Kaprielian allowed a two-run home run in the third inning but was dominant otherwise, striking out nine hitters over six innings in Class A Advanced Tampa's win against Dunedin. He allowed four hits and one walk, throwing 57 of 84 pitches for strikes. Kaprielian, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2015 Draft, has been excellent in his first three turns for Tampa, posting a 1.50 ERA, 0.61 WHIP and 22/3 K/BB ratio across 18 innings.